New Glasses From Tobii Aim To Make Eye Tracking Research More Flexible

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The eye tracking experts at Tobii announced the Tobii Glasses 2, their latest combined glasses and software system built for advanced eye tracking analysis. Built “to obtain real-world gaze data in real time” in many different situations and locations, the Tobii Glasses are lightweight (45 grams) and unobtrusive but can capture user gaze data in HD at 1080p. The complete system includes the eye tracking glasses, a small recording unit that saves captured data onto a memory card, and the Tobii Glasses Controller Software.

With so much talk these days about wearable devices, it’s somewhat refreshing to see a new product hit the market that’s focused more on researchers than consumers.

While this is not the company’s first foray into glasses for eye tracking, this new model is a bit more svelte compared to their earlier system. Accompanied by updated software, it also has some new functions that include live view that can show researchers what a person is seeing and an HD system called True View that mimics the user’s eye movements in playback.

If you’ve ever worked in product development or advertising (digital or otherwise) you’ll know that this gear is research gold. Eye tracking is extremely valuable in charting design direction of many types of software and hardware systems.

We’ve already seen and reported on some pretty compelling use cases resulting from products like this, but some of the scenarios outlined by Tobii for this type of eye tracking are fascinating. Everything from the obvious retail shopping scenarios to tracking how athletes gaze at targets and where drivers look as they navigate.

The company also lists potential uses in signage, simulators, control panels, mobile devices, social interaction research, and group dynamics.

Keeping in mind that this is a product for businesses and not individual consumers, the price breakdown for Tobii Glasses 2 packages range from $15,000 to $30,000 plus a paid analytics package. Orders can be placed starting today and shipments are expected to begin in October 2014.